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The problem is that we don't have a good metric for what a good education is. Anytime you try to come up with one and enforce it, like No Child Left Behind, so

by araneae 17y ago

The problem is that we don't have a good metric for what a good education is. Anytime you try to come up with one and enforce it, like No Child Left Behind, someone doesn't like it. In that Alan Greenspan book that was posted, he remarked that his father was infuriated that some of his homework involved painstakingly coloring in maps for hours, because he considered it useless. I don't know about history, but in art classes we would painstakingly spend hours making little patches of different textures. And do things like draw without looking at the page. One person's waste of time is another person's education. We might be able to come up with the best education to get someone into med school, but it's much harder to come up with an education that is most likely to make someone "successful."

tokenadult 17y ago
Perhaps (and I think this agrees with TomOfTTB's point in his comment) the problem is assuming that if all people receive the same education, then they have all received a good education. This seems to be the assumption built into current state laws about compulsory schooling. If people have power to shop, they don't all eat the same foods or wear the same wardrobes. Neither should we expect learners with the power to shop to all choose the same educations. As you correctly say, "One person's waste of time is another person's education." (By the way, that mention of drawing exercises is an especially apt example.)
- yardie 17y ago
  Primary and secondary school should provide enough education to get you started and after that get out the way. We make choices in eating because we are knowledgeable enough to decide what makes a good choice. But the curriculum of schools is just insane. Fatter years, they add more classes, leaner years they cut back to the basics. The kids are caught in the middle of these 12 year experiments. And the results can't be seen for atleast 20 years. Some schools want to prepare students for college and others just want to get off the D-list of NCLB. If anything schools should do what they were outlined to do 200 years ago. Provide a baseline of education. If you want additional classes provide them after school or on the weekends. If you've passed the baseline then there is no need to stick around for 2-3 years. Get out, go to college or get an apprenticeship.
  - dpatru 17y ago
    I think schools are more about providing jobs to school employees and babysitting (keeping kids safely out of the way) than they are about education.

by araneae 17y ago

tokenadult 17y ago

Perhaps (and I think this agrees with TomOfTTB's point in his comment) the problem is assuming that if all people receive the same education, then they have all received a good education. This seems to be the assumption built into current state laws about compulsory schooling. If people have power to shop, they don't all eat the same foods or wear the same wardrobes. Neither should we expect learners with the power to shop to all choose the same educations. As you correctly say, "One person's waste of time is another person's education." (By the way, that mention of drawing exercises is an especially apt example.)

yardie 17y ago
Primary and secondary school should provide enough education to get you started and after that get out the way. We make choices in eating because we are knowledgeable enough to decide what makes a good choice. But the curriculum of schools is just insane. Fatter years, they add more classes, leaner years they cut back to the basics. The kids are caught in the middle of these 12 year experiments. And the results can't be seen for atleast 20 years. Some schools want to prepare students for college and others just want to get off the D-list of NCLB. If anything schools should do what they were outlined to do 200 years ago. Provide a baseline of education. If you want additional classes provide them after school or on the weekends. If you've passed the baseline then there is no need to stick around for 2-3 years. Get out, go to college or get an apprenticeship.
- dpatru 17y ago
  I think schools are more about providing jobs to school employees and babysitting (keeping kids safely out of the way) than they are about education.